Page 65 of The Finding Series: Vol. 1

“Tell me again, Jax, please,” he begged.

Jax’s arms went around him and drew him down. “I love you, Dane,” he whispered against Dane’s ear and Dane screamed in pleasure as he came. Jax’s body clamped down on his dick as Jax shouted his name and then the words came again. Jax kept repeating them and Dane’s body jerked every time the beautiful words washed over him. Jax’s release was hot between them and Dane closed his eyes as his own cock twitched one more time inside of Jax before everything went dark.

ChapterEight

Jax felt his gut clench as he watched Dane moving around the kitchen. He’d hoped his admission of love would bring him some measure of peace, but the exact opposite had occurred and Dane couldn’t sit still to save his life. Nor would he connect with Jax for more than a moment at a time and that was usually a random question about their plans for the day or what he wanted for dinner. There’d been a small part of him that had hoped Dane would say the words back to him, especially after Dane had begged Jax to tell him he loved him again last night but Dane hadn’t even acknowledged anything about what had happened between them. The sex with Dane got better and better every time but it seemed the more in sync their bodies became, the wider their emotional connection grew.

Dane’s phone rang and Jax couldn’t help but glance down on the table where it sat near Dane’s nearly full cup of coffee. He physically flinched when Gray Hawthorne’s name appeared on the screen.

“Who is it?” Dane asked as he began filling the dishwasher.

Jax shifted Emma in his arms, picked up the phone and took it over to Dane who frowned when he saw who was calling. His eyes shot up to Jax’s.

“It’s fine, take it,” Jax said. “I’m going to go change her,” he said as he left the kitchen. Pain lanced through him when he heard Dane answer.

Jax got Emma cleaned up and put a new diaper on her. Never in a million years had he thought he’d be changing a baby’s diaper. Of course, there’d been a lot of firsts for him in the last couple of weeks since meeting Dane.

“I’m getting better, huh?” he asked Emma as he picked her up and reached into her crib for one of her toys. It was some kind of strange animal that rattled but also made a weird crunching sound whenever Emma squeezed its limbs. He’d come to learn it was her favorite.

“He invited us to dinner,” Jax heard Dane say behind him. “I told him maybe some other time.”

For some reason Dane’s words didn’t make Jax feel any better, probably because it sounded like Dane had declined more to please him than anything else.

“I was wondering if we could go into town for a bit. I was hoping to talk to Wendy and see if she was interested in becoming my tech when I open my practice.”

“Sure,” Jax said, forcing his voice to be more casual than he was feeling.

“Damn it, Jax, what do you want from me?” he heard Dane ask in frustration.

Jax sighed. “I want you to not have to ask me that, Dane. It’s not about what I want.” He turned around and handed Emma over to Dane. “I’ll meet you by the car.”

* * *

Dane put Emma down in her crib as that familiar wave of agitation overcame him and his father’s voice pierced his brain, the cruel words taunting him. He closed Emma’s door and then went into his own room and locked the door. The pain in his head increased until it felt like someone was stabbing needles through his skull. Why wouldn’t Jax just tell him what he wanted? What were the right words to say? Why couldn’t he make this fucking work?

Weak.

Dane shoved his fists into his eyes.

Pathetic.

“Stop!” he shouted as he leaned back against the wall.

Fucking pussy.

Something shattered and then a blaring noise surged through his head.

Love you, Doc.

Dane heard his name being called but he was too tired to care and he dropped to the floor as the needles began to pierce his flesh.

* * *

“Dane”! Jax screamed as he flew up the stairs, ignoring the blaring alarm. He could hear Emma screaming and he threw open her door. Relief went through him at the sight of her unharmed in her crib. Tears were flowing down her red cheeks as her shrill cries pierced the air.

“Dane!” he shouted again and pure terror went through him at the sight of Dane’s closed door. He tried the knob but the door didn’t budge. He threw all his weight against it and it easily broke free of the frame. Horror slammed into him at the sight of Dane on his knees on a bed of glass at the base of his dresser. The mirror frame attached to the dresser stood empty except for a few pieces of glass hanging along the edges. Dane was clutching the remains of a small metal lamp in his hand and Jax recognized it as the lamp that used to sit on top of the dresser.

“Jax!” someone called from downstairs as the front door crashed open. He recognized the voice and pushed back his shock at seeing his friend appearing in Dane’s doorway.

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